You have identified the major news theme for March and into April. I wondered what would fill the headlines until the next major development in the war. It turns out to be labor strife. The ink was barely dry on the Lease-Lend bill when strikes starting popping up around the country, including defense-related industries. The first one to make the headline, however, will be a certain public employees’ union. I’ve been reading lately that those didn’t exist until more recently, but that is not entirely true.
For some time there have been persistent but unconfirmed reports of the presence of a German armoured division in the Naples area and in Sicily. It has been stated that these troops were destined for Libya. It is now reliably reported that on the 22nd February armoured cars with crews wearing light blue uniform were seen near El Ageila. The uniform suggests the German Air Force, although it does not normally have armoured car units. The same reliable source confirms the presence of German advanced troops in the Sirte area.
On the 26th February, 1941, an official Italian communique, broadcast from Rome, stated that on the 24th February formations of the German contingent in Africa made contact for the first time with British armoured detachments South-East of Agedabia (100 miles South of Benghazi).
Another recent report from a source of unknown reliability states that two German armoured divisions have disembarked at Tripoli. Although this has not yet been,confirmed, it is quite probable that the Germans have sent some armoured troops to the Sirte area, where German aerodromes are situated, as a precaution against a further rapid advance of British forces.
Keep an eye out for any reports on British labor strikes as well. I’m not sure how much coverage it got in the U.S. but there is definitely a significant jump in the number of strikes in Britain in 1940 compared in the previous year. The numbers I have show that in the British metal, engineering and shipbuilding industry there were 163,000 work days lost in 1940 due to strikes. In 1941 it jumps to 556,000. The worst year will actually be 1944 though with over a million work days lost.